I can remember when it finally hit me. I was sitting in a hot, stuffy room that held about 25 people, but had 100 crammed into it. I was 17 years old, and had been a Christian for about 3 years, but never had fully grasped this whole “worship” thing. I knew all the songs that were being sung, but was just giving them lip service and nothing more.
I was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. There was a Honduran man standing next to me. He was probably in his forties, but looked about 75 years of age. Years of poverty, working in the hot sun, and sub-standard living conditions had not been kind to him. There was a group of about 20 teenagers singing some devotional songs in English to a group of about 80 Spanish-speaking only adults and teenagers in a small community outside of the capital city. These songs, which were routine songs we had sung over and over again, had little to no meaning to me. I continued to sing, because we were supposed to, but my mind was on a trip to the soccer field later on in the day.
All of a sudden, while I was singing the song “Worthy Is the Lamb”, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I thought maybe one of the adult leaders of our trip needed me for something, so I looked behind me, but there was no one there. I looked next to me, and the older gentleman standing next to me had placed one hand on my shoulder, had his eyes closed, and had his other hand straight up in the air.
I already knew the man spoke no English, so he didn’t understand what our words meant. All he knew was that we were singing songs of praise to our God, and he wanted to participate in the worship as well. Even though we weren’t praising with the same language, we were both praising the same God. At that moment, I realized this “worship” thing was more than just singing a song, but it was an experience. It was something that I needed to understand more. At that moment, I felt a tear roll down my cheek, and I finally grasped that my worship to God was not just for my benefit, but was to first of all praise God, and second of all, to teach and admonish others.
Paul tells us in I Corinthians 14:19 that he would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language. That day, this man knew we were speaking of God, His Love, and His Grace. Those words were enough for him to enter into his own time of worship. Today, we’re going to learn how to grow in our worship to God. May God bless our worship service today, and accept our praise to Him.
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3 comments:
I've had some of those experiences, too, those moments when worship seems to transcend human language. It really is the kind of thing that's difficult to articulate or explain (which, I suppose, only proves the point even more!). Thanks for the reminder about the nature of true worship.
Powerful words and thoughts, Lane. I remember similar experiences working at MSYC. There was always something about "lights-out devos" that made me realize what worship is all about.
Lane, I was scrolling down your blog when I came across this. I liked the title...didn't know it was going to be about Honduras, but started reading it.
The first year Steve and I were at Baxter (2004), we attended a combined worship service on campus after a big youth rally. The young people from several countries in Latin America were singing praise songs...many of them I understood the tune to, but several were completely new to us.
I had just completed my first 3 weeks of Spanish classes ever...then moved to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Now I was listening to this awesome singing in Spanish and, even though I didn't have a clue what most of the words were, I knew we were all worshiping and praising God.
I didn't have a hand on anyone's shoulder, nor did I have one in raised...I had both around a little Honduran girl who came to sit in my lap.
Thank you for reminding me of that special time in my life when I, too, realized what real worship was all about.
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